Duke Crocker was eavesdropping. It was a skill he'd developed at a very early age. When he could barely talk himself it let him know when to hide from his mother in an alcoholic rage or drug-induced psychosis. When he was older it occasionally helped him to make himself scarce before his father returned from one of his frequent absences – before he could be roped into nursing whatever injuries the old man had collected this time. Right now, it was answering questions he didn't even know he had.
"So what really happened, Lucy?" Rosemary asked in a hushed voice, although it was clearly audible to the boy sitting at a table a few feet away slurping down his milkshake.
"I tried to warn him about the Reverend." Lucy answered, her voice quiet enough that Duke had to strain to hear her. "He insisted that he'd only meet me out in the bay on his fishing boat and I agreed."
"I'll bet Garland had kittens about that one."
"I didn't tell him."
Even as young as he was Duke could hear the wry grin in Lucy's voice.
"I thought it would be safe – he took Duke with him. Who plans a murder in front of their own kid?" Lucy's gentle voice conveyed infinite pain and grief.
"Probably decided it was time to start training the lad to follow in his footsteps."
Rosemary broke off the conversation to sell some baked goods to a short string of customers and then returned to Lucy sitting at the counter and demanded more details.
"So how did you survive?"
"Hendrickson." Lucy said briefly. "He was my backup plan. He was on another boat trailing a line in the water. When Simon drew his knife – Hendrickson shot him right through the eye with his crossbow. He fell over the side and never came up."
"Glendowers?" Rosemary asked.
"Probably. I suspect that Hendrickson warned them."
"And Duke never saw a thing?"
"He'd just hooked a fish and was reeling it in – and it was over in seconds. But now the poor little guy is an orphan and I can't help but feel like it's my fault. I just wanted to warn his father about trusting Reverend Driscoll too much."
Duke could hear Lucy's distress. If there was one thing he was good at, it was reading a person. She was genuinely broken up about his dad's death. Somehow that made Duke feel slightly guilty since he still wasn't sure if he was happy or sad that the old man was out of his life now.
"So what now?" Rosemary asked with the practicality she was known for.
"Well, Duke's going to go into foster care. For the moment I'm going to take him to the beach – his babysitter is there waiting for us. We'll tell him about what's going on."
"Maybe Garland can use some influence to get a good home for the little guy. He's had a rough go of it so far."
Duke struggled to keep his irritation at this unneeded sympathy from showing. They'd keep talking if they didn't realize he was listening.
"Want a coffee to go with you?" Rosemary asked as Lucy began gathering her things to go.
"Oh yes!" Lucy loved her coffee. It was almost a joke in Haven how attached she was to the stuff. Duke thought it smelled nice but was bitter and nasty.
"Somehow I knew you'd say that." Rosemary smiled with amusement, handing Lucy a paper cup she'd had on the counter in front of her.
"It's just the way you like it –" Rosemary added as Lucy took a cautious sip. "Milk and one sugar."